Gaining a better understanding of recent events

[Guest guest]

Dear All,A couple of articles have crossed my desk which I think provide a more truthful perspective on events, and so I am forwarding them to you. They might not have all the answers, but the perspectives are interesting, well researched and not filled with generalities as specific dates and instances have been given.

 

I don't know that I agree with all of the premises given in the first article, but it gives a good case for both sides without racism or bigotry, and it allows us to take responsibility for our own short comings without having to "swallow the blame" for the whole kit and kaboodle.

 

The second article looks to the men behind the bin Ladens, and the Milosovics, and into the realm of mind control.

 

IMOHO, both articles are excellent and I think there are some answers here.

 

Much love,

 

Doc

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

Understanding Middle Eastern Sources of Violence Against the United States

by Steve Niva http://academic.evergreen.edu/users3/nivas/

The Evergreen State College http://www.evergreen.edu/In the wake of the immense and sickening tragedy of the recent attacks it is difficult to get beyond the horror and shock of what has just happened and engage in some reflection on the sources of violence against the United States. This is understandable given the almost unbelievable nature of this attack. Yet it is more necessary than ever if one is to cope with the tragedy and try to find ways to make sure it will never happen again.

 

What we will see in the next few days and weeks will be investigations, arrests of individuals and intense speculation about which groups or states did this and how the United States should respond. Unfortunately, if the pattern of past responses to such attacks is repeated, we will probably not learn a great deal about the reasons behind why this attack happened, or the broader sources of violence against the United States over the past decade.

 

We are hearing substantial reports of a Middle Eastern connection to this attack and media coverage has frequently mentioned the name of Osama bin Laden as the number one terrorist suspect and mastermind of this operation. If this evidence is verified, it is extremely important to gain clarity about the specific actors and their motivations before one can even think about how to respond. For Americans who like their hero's and villains portrayed in simple dichotomies of good and evil, the result of this kind of clarity could be disturbing because the United States has created many enemies through its policies in the Middle East over the past century and bears a significant amount of responsibility for creating a fertile soil for anti-American hatred.

 

Who is behind the attacks?

 

The recent attacks are most likely related to an escalating series of attacks and bombings on U.S. targets over the past 10 years,including the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which hundreds were killed. This attack followed a 1996 car-bomb attack on a U.S. barracks in Dharahan, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans and a 1995 car-bomb attack on an American National Guard Training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, the 1993 World Trade Center truck-bombing.

All of these attacks have been attributed to Islamic radicals based in the Middle East and Central Asia under the rubric of a very hazy notion of "Islamic fundamentalism." Indeed a number of people from these regions with links to certain militant Islamic groups have been arrested and charged in some of these actions. Breathless reports of a shadowy Islamic conspiracy against the U.S. have generated a steady stream of cliché's about this new enemy and its hatred of the U.S., but unfortunately precious little light has been shed on understanding why this is happening and what exactly these people believe. Their enmity towards the U.S. is explained as little more than the product of a fanatical and inherently anti-Western and anti-American world view.

Stephen Emerson, a so-called terrorism expert who frequently appears in the media, claims that "the hatred of the US by militant Islamic fundamentalists is not tied to any particular act or event. Rather, fundamentalists equate the mere existence of the West-its economic, political and cultural systems-as an intrinsic attack on Islam." Any explanation of Middle Eastern violence that relies upon the notion that Islam is an inherently violent or inherently anti-Western religion is false and misleading. First, Islam is one of the world's largest and most diverse religions and like Christianity or Judaism there are thousands of views within Islam about the religion and also about violence and the West. Secondly, there are major differences even among explicitly Muslim militants and activists regarding these issues-some insist upon non-violent struggle and others regard violence as a legitimate tool. There is no way one can generalize about Islam or any religion for that matter.

 

So who are the perpetrators and what drove them to commit this horrendous act? The most likely perpetrators of these attacks are related to an extremely small and fringe network of militants whose motivations do not derive from Islam so much as from a common set of experiences and beliefs that resulted from their participation in the U.S. backed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980's. These militants were recruited by the CIA, the Saudi Arabian and Pakistani intelligence services to fight against the Soviet Union during the 1980's. They came largely from the poor and unemployed classes or militant opposition groups from around the Middle East, including Algeria, Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere in order to wage war on behalf of the Muslim people of Afghanistan against the communist led invasion. Among the many coordinators and financiers of this effort was a rich young Saudi named Osama Bin Laden, who was the millionaire son of a wealthy Saudi businessman with close contacts to the Saudi royal family. He was considered to be a major CIA asset in the war against the Soviet Union. After 1984, these groups started building major bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fought against the Soviet Union. This network of conservative Sunni Muslim militants, who became known as "the Afghans", also served another purpose for the U.S. and its allies in the region. Not only were they anti-Communist they were also opposed to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that had toppled a major ally of the U.S., the Shah of Iran, who had helped control the oil fields in the region under U.S. hegemony. They opposed the revolution because Iranian Islam is based on the Shiite branch of Islam that differs in important ways from the major Sunni branch of Islam. The clear aim of U.S. foreign policy was to kill two birds with one stone: turn back the Soviet Union and create a counter-weight to radical Iranian inspired threats to U.S. interests, particularly U.S. backed regimes who controlled the massive oil resources.

 

The failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East

 

But this policy has now turned into a nightmare for the U.S. and has likely led to the recent attacks against the U.S. in New York and Washington D.C. After the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan in 1989 this network became expendable to the U.S. who no longer needed their services. In fact, the U.S. actively turned against these groups after the Gulf War when a number of these militants returned home and opposed the U.S. war against Iraq and especially the U.S. ground troops placed in Saudi Arabia on the land of the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Madina. In the past decade there has been a vicious war of intelligence services in the region between America and its allies and militant Muslim groups. Many Egyptian Islamists believe the U.S. trained Egyptian police torture techniques like they did the Shah and his brutal Savak security police. The CIA has sent snatch squads to abduct wanted militants form Muslim countries and return them to their countries to face almost certain death or imprisonment. The primary belief of this loose and militant network of veterans of the Afghanistan war is that the West, led by the United States, is now waging war against Muslims around the world and that they have to defend themselves by any means necessary, including violence and terrorism. They point to a number of cases where Muslims have born the brunt of violence as evidence of this war: the genocide against Bosnian Muslims, the Russian war against Chechnya, the Indian occupation of Kashmir, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the UN sanctions against Iraq or the US support of brutal dictatorships in Algeria, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, for example. They claim that the US either supported the violence or failed to prevent it in all of these cases. It should be clear that this network is only a very radical fringe of militants who have decided that they must use armed tactics to get their message out to the U.S. and others. They have been identified as the major players in the recent string of anti-U.S. bombings across the Middle East that culminated in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and now, possibly, the attacks directly on American soil. They are very different from the wider current of Islamic activism in Arab world and more globally which in addition to its Islamic orientation has an agenda about social justice and social change against the dictatorships and terrible economic conditions and extensive corruption in many of the pro-Western countries in the region. They are anti-Iranian. They are now anti-Saudi. And their actions have even been condemned by very militant Muslim organizations ranging from the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt to the FIS in Algeria to HAMAS in Palestine. They are disconnected from these movements in many ways although some sentiments are certainly shared. There is no question that the U.S. support for Israel and its support for the devastating sanctions on Iraq, as well as U.S. support for brutal dictatorships across the region, have created a fertile ground for sympathy with such militancy.

 

Osama bin Laden is not the mastermind of these attacks as is often claimed in the media; he just facilitates these groups andsentiments with his money and finances, as do others. He is simply a very visible symbol of this network and the U.S. obsession with him most likely works to increase his standing as an icon of resistance to the U.S. The rise of this militant network and their adoption of violence against the United States represents a clear failure of U.S. strategy in the region, especially the U.S./Saudi/Pakistani model of alliance between conservative Sunni Islamic activism and the West. The problem is that US has no alternative political strategy because they see all Islamic activists as their enemy and refuse to address the root causes of anti-American sentiments in the region, especially support for dictatorships and rampant poverty among the majority of the region's masses of people. Just as important, the U.S appears to have no long-term strategy to address the sources of grievances that the radical groups share with vast majority of Muslim activists who abhor using violent methods that would include a more balanced approach to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, ending the sanctions on Iraq or moving U.S. military bases out of Saudi Arabia.

 

How to truly defeat terrorism

 

Many of us accept the premise that terrorism is a phenomenon that can be defeated only by better ideas, by persuasion and, most importantly, by amelioration of the conditions that inspire it. Terrorism's best asset, in the final analysis, is the fire in the bellies of its young men. That fire cannot be extinguished by Tomahawk missiles or military operations. If intelligent Americans can accept this premise as a reasonable basis for dealing with this threat, why is it so difficult for our leaders to speak and act accordingly? The present U.S. strategy for ending the threat of terrorism through the use of military force will very likely exacerbate these problems. When innocent U.S. citizens are killed and harmed by blasts at US embassies or bases, the U.S. government expects expressions of outrage and grief over brutal terrorism. But when U.S. Cruise missiles kill and maim innocent Sudanese, Afghanis, and Pakistanis, the U.S. calls it collateral damage. Many of the world's 1.2 billion Muslim peopleare understandably aggrieved by double standards. The U.S. claims that it must impose economic sanctions on certain countries that violate human rights and/or harbor weapons of mass destruction. Yet the U.S. largely ignores Muslim victims of human rights violations in Palestine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and Chechnya. What's more, while the U.S. economy is propped up by weapon sales to countries around the globe and particularly in the Middle East, the U.S. insists on economicsanctions to prevent weapon development in Libya, Sudan, Iran and Iraq. In Iraq, the crippling economic sanctions cost the lives of 5,000 children, under age five, every month. Over one million Iraqis have died as a direct result of over a decade of sanctions. Finally, the U.S. pro-Israel policy unfairly puts higher demands on Palestinians to renounce violence than on Israelis to halt new settlements and adhere to U.N. resolutions calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

 

There is no justification for the horrendous attacks on innocent American civilians in New York or Washington. Yet, at this difficult time, Americans should critically examine policies with which Arabs, Muslims and many others have legitimate grievances. Why do we refuse to see the flaws in these policies? Is it easier to demonize those in the Arab world who oppose them as a way of diverting attention from our own mistakes?

 

President Bush and others have labeled all Islamic militants as members or "affiliates" of the "Osama bin Laden Network of Terrorism." This is, of course, the common mistake of demonizing one individual as the root of all evil. In fact, elevating bin Laden to that status only gives him a mantle of heroism now and, more ominously, will guarantee him martyrdom if he should die. Even if he is killed or captured, the fertile soil that creates such figures will still be there. Moreover, any attacks may simply serve to inflame passions and create hosts of new volunteers to their ranks. Military solutions to the problems in the Middle East and the terrorism that has resulted from these problems is not a policy but a recipe for more violence and bombings.

 

Steve Niva teaches International politics and Middle East Studies at the Evergreen State College.HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUING MENTAL TERRORISM FROM ATTACK ON AMERICAAs an international human rights organization, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this inhumane and heinous terrorist attack on innocent American citizens. While these acts of unspeakable evil defy our comprehension, we must retain our certainty that these are the cowardly actions of weak and insane minds, minds that are psychologically indoctrinated to feel nothing about the mass murder of innocent lives, stated Jan Eastgate, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR).Gordon Thomas, author of Journey into Madness, warned us about the Beirut, Lebanon terrorist psychiatrist, Dr. Aziz al-Abub, who provided pep pills for suicide-bombers and implanted them with the idea of the glory of sacrifice and dying. His greater target was the minds of the people, creating tension in the streets in the aftermath of terrorism. This is tension that we must unite together to prevent in the people of America.CCHR, of course, supports a full investigation into this horrific tragedy but warns that such an investigation must not stop at isolating the individuals directly responsible, but must also determine what mental techniques and manipulation were used to turn those individuals into mindless murderers.CCHR's evidence of psychiatric influence behind Bosnia and Kosovo's civil terrorism led to Members of the Council of Europe in 1999 signing a resolution that recognized psychiatrists Radovan Karadzic and Jovan Raskovic as the architects of ethnic cleansing in those countries. Prime Minister Slobovan Milosovic, a former Karadzic patient, perpetrated and financed Kosovo?s ethnic cleansing.With reports accusing Osama bin Laden of being the source of the WTC and Pentagon attacks, CCHR?s attention has turned to his chief aide, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former psychiatrist convicted of terrorism in Egypt and sentenced to death in absentia.According to Islamic lawyer, Muntasir Zayat, Zawahiri is to bin Laden what the brain is to the body. Zawahiri was able to reshape bin Laden's thinking and mentality and turn him from merely a supporter of the Afghan Jihad to a believer in and export of the Jihad's ideology, the lawyer said.CCHR has called on its 131 chapters worldwide to accelerate their investigations and exposure of those who use destructive mental practices for political ends.

[Guest guest]

By now most of America knows what happened here in Mesa, Arizona. A few blocks from where I live at least one, maybe two men in a black truck drove to the corner Chevron gas station and shot the owner dead. They ironically went approx ten miles into town a block from where my mother lives and shot up another gas station missing the people inside. They went 2 more blocks at 2 more locations shooting even more. Luckily only the one man was killed. He was from India, the slain man, and was mistaken for being of Arab descent.

 

This saddens my heart that we have people here in America, especially in my neighborhood, that would kill a man for no reason other than his skin color. The man so happened to have been a US citizen for many, many years and he and his family all donated blood the day before he died to help ease the suffering of fellow Americans.

 

I ask you all for Prayer for the people affected here, mainly his family. They have not caught the shooter yet and I Pray they do.

 

This is just the icing on the cake. Americans should not have to live in fear in their own country, especially fear from what select Americans will do. The well being of our children and ourselves is at stake right now... Healing needs to come to all our hearts.

 

When giving a big part of yourself to natural healing and really understanding the mind, body, and spirit approach to a persons well being it really can be seen how we all can be affected on so many levels.

 

Anyway I am rambling on. This is a Wonderful list with some fantastic people and I hope we can somehow help the people of America and the world if tragedy falls in our own back yard. During times of war I never thought...Hmmm maybe I should stock up on extra cayenne just in case of a tragedy like this happens around me... but now I have been thinking more about getting emergency herbs together... Who Knows...

 

God be with us all,

Jamie

 

-

Ian Shillington N.D.

herbal remedies

Sunday, September 16, 2001 9:08 PM

[herbal remedies] Gaining a better understanding of recent events

 

Dear All,A couple of articles have crossed my desk which I think provide a more truthful perspective on events, and so I am forwarding them to you. They might not have all the answers, but the perspectives are interesting, well researched and not filled with generalities as specific dates and instances have been given.

 

I don't know that I agree with all of the premises given in the first article, but it gives a good case for both sides without racism or bigotry, and it allows us to take responsibility for our own short comings without having to "swallow the blame" for the whole kit and kaboodle.

 

The second article looks to the men behind the bin Ladens, and the Milosovics, and into the realm of mind control.

 

IMOHO, both articles are excellent and I think there are some answers here.

 

Much love,

 

Doc

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

Understanding Middle Eastern Sources of Violence Against the United States

by Steve Niva http://academic.evergreen.edu/users3/nivas/

The Evergreen State College http://www.evergreen.edu/In the wake of the immense and sickening tragedy of the recent attacks it is difficult to get beyond the horror and shock of what has just happened and engage in some reflection on the sources of violence against the United States. This is understandable given the almost unbelievable nature of this attack. Yet it is more necessary than ever if one is to cope with the tragedy and try to find ways to make sure it will never happen again.

 

What we will see in the next few days and weeks will be investigations, arrests of individuals and intense speculation about which groups or states did this and how the United States should respond. Unfortunately, if the pattern of past responses to such attacks is repeated, we will probably not learn a great deal about the reasons behind why this attack happened, or the broader sources of violence against the United States over the past decade.

 

We are hearing substantial reports of a Middle Eastern connection to this attack and media coverage has frequently mentioned the name of Osama bin Laden as the number one terrorist suspect and mastermind of this operation. If this evidence is verified, it is extremely important to gain clarity about the specific actors and their motivations before one can even think about how to respond. For Americans who like their hero's and villains portrayed in simple dichotomies of good and evil, the result of this kind of clarity could be disturbing because the United States has created many enemies through its policies in the Middle East over the past century and bears a significant amount of responsibility for creating a fertile soil for anti-American hatred.

 

Who is behind the attacks?

 

The recent attacks are most likely related to an escalating series of attacks and bombings on U.S. targets over the past 10 years,including the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which hundreds were killed. This attack followed a 1996 car-bomb attack on a U.S. barracks in Dharahan, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans and a 1995 car-bomb attack on an American National Guard Training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, the 1993 World Trade Center truck-bombing.

All of these attacks have been attributed to Islamic radicals based in the Middle East and Central Asia under the rubric of a very hazy notion of "Islamic fundamentalism." Indeed a number of people from these regions with links to certain militant Islamic groups have been arrested and charged in some of these actions. Breathless reports of a shadowy Islamic conspiracy against the U.S. have generated a steady stream of cliché's about this new enemy and its hatred of the U.S., but unfortunately precious little light has been shed on understanding why this is happening and what exactly these people believe. Their enmity towards the U.S. is explained as little more than the product of a fanatical and inherently anti-Western and anti-American world view.

Stephen Emerson, a so-called terrorism expert who frequently appears in the media, claims that "the hatred of the US by militant Islamic fundamentalists is not tied to any particular act or event. Rather, fundamentalists equate the mere existence of the West-its economic, political and cultural systems-as an intrinsic attack on Islam." Any explanation of Middle Eastern violence that relies upon the notion that Islam is an inherently violent or inherently anti-Western religion is false and misleading. First, Islam is one of the world's largest and most diverse religions and like Christianity or Judaism there are thousands of views within Islam about the religion and also about violence and the West. Secondly, there are major differences even among explicitly Muslim militants and activists regarding these issues-some insist upon non-violent struggle and others regard violence as a legitimate tool. There is no way one can generalize about Islam or any religion for that matter.

 

So who are the perpetrators and what drove them to commit this horrendous act? The most likely perpetrators of these attacks are related to an extremely small and fringe network of militants whose motivations do not derive from Islam so much as from a common set of experiences and beliefs that resulted from their participation in the U.S. backed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980's. These militants were recruited by the CIA, the Saudi Arabian and Pakistani intelligence services to fight against the Soviet Union during the 1980's. They came largely from the poor and unemployed classes or militant opposition groups from around the Middle East, including Algeria, Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere in order to wage war on behalf of the Muslim people of Afghanistan against the communist led invasion. Among the many coordinators and financiers of this effort was a rich young Saudi named Osama Bin Laden, who was the millionaire son of a wealthy Saudi businessman with close contacts to the Saudi royal family. He was considered to be a major CIA asset in the war against the Soviet Union. After 1984, these groups started building major bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fought against the Soviet Union. This network of conservative Sunni Muslim militants, who became known as "the Afghans", also served another purpose for the U.S. and its allies in the region. Not only were they anti-Communist they were also opposed to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that had toppled a major ally of the U.S., the Shah of Iran, who had helped control the oil fields in the region under U.S. hegemony. They opposed the revolution because Iranian Islam is based on the Shiite branch of Islam that differs in important ways from the major Sunni branch of Islam. The clear aim of U.S. foreign policy was to kill two birds with one stone: turn back the Soviet Union and create a counter-weight to radical Iranian inspired threats to U.S. interests, particularly U.S. backed regimes who controlled the massive oil resources.

 

The failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East

 

But this policy has now turned into a nightmare for the U.S. and has likely led to the recent attacks against the U.S. in New York and Washington D.C. After the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan in 1989 this network became expendable to the U.S. who no longer needed their services. In fact, the U.S. actively turned against these groups after the Gulf War when a number of these militants returned home and opposed the U.S. war against Iraq and especially the U.S. ground troops placed in Saudi Arabia on the land of the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Madina. In the past decade there has been a vicious war of intelligence services in the region between America and its allies and militant Muslim groups. Many Egyptian Islamists believe the U.S. trained Egyptian police torture techniques like they did the Shah and his brutal Savak security police. The CIA has sent snatch squads to abduct wanted militants form Muslim countries and return them to their countries to face almost certain death or imprisonment. The primary belief of this loose and militant network of veterans of the Afghanistan war is that the West, led by the United States, is now waging war against Muslims around the world and that they have to defend themselves by any means necessary, including violence and terrorism. They point to a number of cases where Muslims have born the brunt of violence as evidence of this war: the genocide against Bosnian Muslims, the Russian war against Chechnya, the Indian occupation of Kashmir, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the UN sanctions against Iraq or the US support of brutal dictatorships in Algeria, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, for example. They claim that the US either supported the violence or failed to prevent it in all of these cases. It should be clear that this network is only a very radical fringe of militants who have decided that they must use armed tactics to get their message out to the U.S. and others. They have been identified as the major players in the recent string of anti-U.S. bombings across the Middle East that culminated in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and now, possibly, the attacks directly on American soil. They are very different from the wider current of Islamic activism in Arab world and more globally which in addition to its Islamic orientation has an agenda about social justice and social change against the dictatorships and terrible economic conditions and extensive corruption in many of the pro-Western countries in the region. They are anti-Iranian. They are now anti-Saudi. And their actions have even been condemned by very militant Muslim organizations ranging from the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt to the FIS in Algeria to HAMAS in Palestine. They are disconnected from these movements in many ways although some sentiments are certainly shared. There is no question that the U.S. support for Israel and its support for the devastating sanctions on Iraq, as well as U.S. support for brutal dictatorships across the region, have created a fertile ground for sympathy with such militancy.

 

Osama bin Laden is not the mastermind of these attacks as is often claimed in the media; he just facilitates these groups andsentiments with his money and finances, as do others. He is simply a very visible symbol of this network and the U.S. obsession with him most likely works to increase his standing as an icon of resistance to the U.S. The rise of this militant network and their adoption of violence against the United States represents a clear failure of U.S. strategy in the region, especially the U.S./Saudi/Pakistani model of alliance between conservative Sunni Islamic activism and the West. The problem is that US has no alternative political strategy because they see all Islamic activists as their enemy and refuse to address the root causes of anti-American sentiments in the region, especially support for dictatorships and rampant poverty among the majority of the region's masses of people. Just as important, the U.S appears to have no long-term strategy to address the sources of grievances that the radical groups share with vast majority of Muslim activists who abhor using violent methods that would include a more balanced approach to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, ending the sanctions on Iraq or moving U.S. military bases out of Saudi Arabia.

 

How to truly defeat terrorism

 

Many of us accept the premise that terrorism is a phenomenon that can be defeated only by better ideas, by persuasion and, most importantly, by amelioration of the conditions that inspire it. Terrorism's best asset, in the final analysis, is the fire in the bellies of its young men. That fire cannot be extinguished by Tomahawk missiles or military operations. If intelligent Americans can accept this premise as a reasonable basis for dealing with this threat, why is it so difficult for our leaders to speak and act accordingly? The present U.S. strategy for ending the threat of terrorism through the use of military force will very likely exacerbate these problems. When innocent U.S. citizens are killed and harmed by blasts at US embassies or bases, the U.S. government expects expressions of outrage and grief over brutal terrorism. But when U.S. Cruise missiles kill and maim innocent Sudanese, Afghanis, and Pakistanis, the U.S. calls it collateral damage. Many of the world's 1.2 billion Muslim peopleare understandably aggrieved by double standards. The U.S. claims that it must impose economic sanctions on certain countries that violate human rights and/or harbor weapons of mass destruction. Yet the U.S. largely ignores Muslim victims of human rights violations in Palestine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and Chechnya. What's more, while the U.S. economy is propped up by weapon sales to countries around the globe and particularly in the Middle East, the U.S. insists on economicsanctions to prevent weapon development in Libya, Sudan, Iran and Iraq. In Iraq, the crippling economic sanctions cost the lives of 5,000 children, under age five, every month. Over one million Iraqis have died as a direct result of over a decade of sanctions. Finally, the U.S. pro-Israel policy unfairly puts higher demands on Palestinians to renounce violence than on Israelis to halt new settlements and adhere to U.N. resolutions calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

 

There is no justification for the horrendous attacks on innocent American civilians in New York or Washington. Yet, at this difficult time, Americans should critically examine policies with which Arabs, Muslims and many others have legitimate grievances. Why do we refuse to see the flaws in these policies? Is it easier to demonize those in the Arab world who oppose them as a way of diverting attention from our own mistakes?

 

President Bush and others have labeled all Islamic militants as members or "affiliates" of the "Osama bin Laden Network of Terrorism." This is, of course, the common mistake of demonizing one individual as the root of all evil. In fact, elevating bin Laden to that status only gives him a mantle of heroism now and, more ominously, will guarantee him martyrdom if he should die. Even if he is killed or captured, the fertile soil that creates such figures will still be there. Moreover, any attacks may simply serve to inflame passions and create hosts of new volunteers to their ranks. Military solutions to the problems in the Middle East and the terrorism that has resulted from these problems is not a policy but a recipe for more violence and bombings.

 

Steve Niva teaches International politics and Middle East Studies at the Evergreen State College.HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUING MENTAL TERRORISM FROM ATTACK ON AMERICAAs an international human rights organization, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this inhumane and heinous terrorist attack on innocent American citizens. While these acts of unspeakable evil defy our comprehension, we must retain our certainty that these are the cowardly actions of weak and insane minds, minds that are psychologically indoctrinated to feel nothing about the mass murder of innocent lives, stated Jan Eastgate, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR).Gordon Thomas, author of Journey into Madness, warned us about the Beirut, Lebanon terrorist psychiatrist, Dr. Aziz al-Abub, who provided pep pills for suicide-bombers and implanted them with the idea of the glory of sacrifice and dying. His greater target was the minds of the people, creating tension in the streets in the aftermath of terrorism. This is tension that we must unite together to prevent in the people of America.CCHR, of course, supports a full investigation into this horrific tragedy but warns that such an investigation must not stop at isolating the individuals directly responsible, but must also determine what mental techniques and manipulation were used to turn those individuals into mindless murderers.CCHR's evidence of psychiatric influence behind Bosnia and Kosovo's civil terrorism led to Members of the Council of Europe in 1999 signing a resolution that recognized psychiatrists Radovan Karadzic and Jovan Raskovic as the architects of ethnic cleansing in those countries. Prime Minister Slobovan Milosovic, a former Karadzic patient, perpetrated and financed Kosovo?s ethnic cleansing.With reports accusing Osama bin Laden of being the source of the WTC and Pentagon attacks, CCHR?s attention has turned to his chief aide, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former psychiatrist convicted of terrorism in Egypt and sentenced to death in absentia.According to Islamic lawyer, Muntasir Zayat, Zawahiri is to bin Laden what the brain is to the body. Zawahiri was able to reshape bin Laden's thinking and mentality and turn him from merely a supporter of the Afghan Jihad to a believer in and export of the Jihad's ideology, the lawyer said.CCHR has called on its 131 chapters worldwide to accelerate their investigations and exposure of those who use destructive mental practices for political ends.Federal Law requires that we warn you of the following: 1. Natural methods can sometimes backfire. 2. If you are pregnant, consult your physician before using any natural remedy. 3. The Constitution guarantees you the right to be your own physician and toprescribe for your own health. We are not medical doctors although MDs are welcome to post here as long as they behave themselves. Any opinions put forth by the list members are exactly that, and any person following the advice of anyone posting here does so at their own risk. It is up to you to educate yourself. By accepting advice or products from list members, you are agreeing to be fully responsible for your own health, and hold the List Owner and members free of any liability. Dr. Ian ShillingtonDoctor of NaturopathyDr.IanShillington

[Guest guest]

Jamie Wrote:

<<This is a Wonderful list with some fantastic people

and I hope we can somehow help the people of America

and the world if tragedy falls in our own back yard.

During times of war I never thought...Hmmm maybe I

should stock up on extra cayenne just in case of a

tragedy like this happens around me... but now I have

been thinking more about getting emergency herbs

together>>

 

Your One of those fantastic people Jamie. Your already

helping.

 

Bless you!

 

Kim

 

 

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. - How can you help?

Donate cash, emergency relief information

http://dailynews./fc/US/Emergency_Information/

[Guest guest]

What is odd is that during all the y2k mess, I never once thought about

extra supplies. I did get uneasy about the debts I owed and sold

off some stocks in order to pay off the land my son and his family and

I bought together.

But when this tragedy occured (I'm not rich and most of my assets have

gone into starting my business so I have little left) I thought about taking

some of my precious reserve and buying up some "medicinal" provisions.

I think this has made many of us change our priorities.

My heart goes out to those who have suffered at the hands of overzealous,

self reightous, ignorant, racist Americans during this time of crisis,

and you may or may not understand this, but my heart goes out to these

misguided ones too. What horrible, empty lives they must lead to not be

able to love regardless of skin color. (but that does *not* mean I think

they should escape justice.)

Jennie

SPARERIBAZ wrote:

During times

of war I never thought...Hmmm maybe I should stock up on extra cayenne

just in case of a tragedy like this happens around me... but now I have

been thinking more about getting emergency herbs together... Who

Knows... God be with us

all,Jamie

 

[Guest guest]

Cayenne is an herb I would stock up on and so is Garlic. For the old medicine kit, and as a general precaution, I have a gallon of Total Tonic on hand at all times. Total Tonic is of course one of the best anti-plague formulae going.

 

Love,

 

Doc

 

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

 

-

SPARERIBAZ

herbal remedies

Monday, September 17, 2001 4:58 AM

Re: [herbal remedies] Gaining a better understanding of recent events

 

By now most of America knows what happened here in Mesa, Arizona. A few blocks from where I live at least one, maybe two men in a black truck drove to the corner Chevron gas station and shot the owner dead. They ironically went approx ten miles into town a block from where my mother lives and shot up another gas station missing the people inside. They went 2 more blocks at 2 more locations shooting even more. Luckily only the one man was killed. He was from India, the slain man, and was mistaken for being of Arab descent.

 

This saddens my heart that we have people here in America, especially in my neighborhood, that would kill a man for no reason other than his skin color. The man so happened to have been a US citizen for many, many years and he and his family all donated blood the day before he died to help ease the suffering of fellow Americans.

 

I ask you all for Prayer for the people affected here, mainly his family. They have not caught the shooter yet and I Pray they do.

 

This is just the icing on the cake. Americans should not have to live in fear in their own country, especially fear from what select Americans will do. The well being of our children and ourselves is at stake right now... Healing needs to come to all our hearts.

 

When giving a big part of yourself to natural healing and really understanding the mind, body, and spirit approach to a persons well being it really can be seen how we all can be affected on so many levels.

 

Anyway I am rambling on. This is a Wonderful list with some fantastic people and I hope we can somehow help the people of America and the world if tragedy falls in our own back yard. During times of war I never thought...Hmmm maybe I should stock up on extra cayenne just in case of a tragedy like this happens around me... but now I have been thinking more about getting emergency herbs together... Who Knows...

 

God be with us all,

Jamie

 

-

Ian Shillington N.D.

herbal remedies

Sunday, September 16, 2001 9:08 PM

[herbal remedies] Gaining a better understanding of recent events

 

Dear All,A couple of articles have crossed my desk which I think provide a more truthful perspective on events, and so I am forwarding them to you. They might not have all the answers, but the perspectives are interesting, well researched and not filled with generalities as specific dates and instances have been given.

 

I don't know that I agree with all of the premises given in the first article, but it gives a good case for both sides without racism or bigotry, and it allows us to take responsibility for our own short comings without having to "swallow the blame" for the whole kit and kaboodle.

 

The second article looks to the men behind the bin Ladens, and the Milosovics, and into the realm of mind control.

 

IMOHO, both articles are excellent and I think there are some answers here.

 

Much love,

 

Doc

Ian "Doc" Shillington N.D.505-772-5889Dr.IanShillington

Understanding Middle Eastern Sources of Violence Against the United States

by Steve Niva http://academic.evergreen.edu/users3/nivas/

The Evergreen State College http://www.evergreen.edu/In the wake of the immense and sickening tragedy of the recent attacks it is difficult to get beyond the horror and shock of what has just happened and engage in some reflection on the sources of violence against the United States. This is understandable given the almost unbelievable nature of this attack. Yet it is more necessary than ever if one is to cope with the tragedy and try to find ways to make sure it will never happen again.

 

What we will see in the next few days and weeks will be investigations, arrests of individuals and intense speculation about which groups or states did this and how the United States should respond. Unfortunately, if the pattern of past responses to such attacks is repeated, we will probably not learn a great deal about the reasons behind why this attack happened, or the broader sources of violence against the United States over the past decade.

 

We are hearing substantial reports of a Middle Eastern connection to this attack and media coverage has frequently mentioned the name of Osama bin Laden as the number one terrorist suspect and mastermind of this operation. If this evidence is verified, it is extremely important to gain clarity about the specific actors and their motivations before one can even think about how to respond. For Americans who like their hero's and villains portrayed in simple dichotomies of good and evil, the result of this kind of clarity could be disturbing because the United States has created many enemies through its policies in the Middle East over the past century and bears a significant amount of responsibility for creating a fertile soil for anti-American hatred.

 

Who is behind the attacks?

 

The recent attacks are most likely related to an escalating series of attacks and bombings on U.S. targets over the past 10 years,including the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in which hundreds were killed. This attack followed a 1996 car-bomb attack on a U.S. barracks in Dharahan, Saudi Arabia that killed 19 Americans and a 1995 car-bomb attack on an American National Guard Training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, the 1993 World Trade Center truck-bombing.

All of these attacks have been attributed to Islamic radicals based in the Middle East and Central Asia under the rubric of a very hazy notion of "Islamic fundamentalism." Indeed a number of people from these regions with links to certain militant Islamic groups have been arrested and charged in some of these actions. Breathless reports of a shadowy Islamic conspiracy against the U.S. have generated a steady stream of cliché's about this new enemy and its hatred of the U.S., but unfortunately precious little light has been shed on understanding why this is happening and what exactly these people believe. Their enmity towards the U.S. is explained as little more than the product of a fanatical and inherently anti-Western and anti-American world view.

Stephen Emerson, a so-called terrorism expert who frequently appears in the media, claims that "the hatred of the US by militant Islamic fundamentalists is not tied to any particular act or event. Rather, fundamentalists equate the mere existence of the West-its economic, political and cultural systems-as an intrinsic attack on Islam." Any explanation of Middle Eastern violence that relies upon the notion that Islam is an inherently violent or inherently anti-Western religion is false and misleading. First, Islam is one of the world's largest and most diverse religions and like Christianity or Judaism there are thousands of views within Islam about the religion and also about violence and the West. Secondly, there are major differences even among explicitly Muslim militants and activists regarding these issues-some insist upon non-violent struggle and others regard violence as a legitimate tool. There is no way one can generalize about Islam or any religion for that matter.

 

So who are the perpetrators and what drove them to commit this horrendous act? The most likely perpetrators of these attacks are related to an extremely small and fringe network of militants whose motivations do not derive from Islam so much as from a common set of experiences and beliefs that resulted from their participation in the U.S. backed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the 1980's. These militants were recruited by the CIA, the Saudi Arabian and Pakistani intelligence services to fight against the Soviet Union during the 1980's. They came largely from the poor and unemployed classes or militant opposition groups from around the Middle East, including Algeria, Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere in order to wage war on behalf of the Muslim people of Afghanistan against the communist led invasion. Among the many coordinators and financiers of this effort was a rich young Saudi named Osama Bin Laden, who was the millionaire son of a wealthy Saudi businessman with close contacts to the Saudi royal family. He was considered to be a major CIA asset in the war against the Soviet Union. After 1984, these groups started building major bases in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fought against the Soviet Union. This network of conservative Sunni Muslim militants, who became known as "the Afghans", also served another purpose for the U.S. and its allies in the region. Not only were they anti-Communist they were also opposed to the 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that had toppled a major ally of the U.S., the Shah of Iran, who had helped control the oil fields in the region under U.S. hegemony. They opposed the revolution because Iranian Islam is based on the Shiite branch of Islam that differs in important ways from the major Sunni branch of Islam. The clear aim of U.S. foreign policy was to kill two birds with one stone: turn back the Soviet Union and create a counter-weight to radical Iranian inspired threats to U.S. interests, particularly U.S. backed regimes who controlled the massive oil resources.

 

The failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East

 

But this policy has now turned into a nightmare for the U.S. and has likely led to the recent attacks against the U.S. in New York and Washington D.C. After the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan in 1989 this network became expendable to the U.S. who no longer needed their services. In fact, the U.S. actively turned against these groups after the Gulf War when a number of these militants returned home and opposed the U.S. war against Iraq and especially the U.S. ground troops placed in Saudi Arabia on the land of the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and Madina. In the past decade there has been a vicious war of intelligence services in the region between America and its allies and militant Muslim groups. Many Egyptian Islamists believe the U.S. trained Egyptian police torture techniques like they did the Shah and his brutal Savak security police. The CIA has sent snatch squads to abduct wanted militants form Muslim countries and return them to their countries to face almost certain death or imprisonment. The primary belief of this loose and militant network of veterans of the Afghanistan war is that the West, led by the United States, is now waging war against Muslims around the world and that they have to defend themselves by any means necessary, including violence and terrorism. They point to a number of cases where Muslims have born the brunt of violence as evidence of this war: the genocide against Bosnian Muslims, the Russian war against Chechnya, the Indian occupation of Kashmir, the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands, the UN sanctions against Iraq or the US support of brutal dictatorships in Algeria, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, for example. They claim that the US either supported the violence or failed to prevent it in all of these cases. It should be clear that this network is only a very radical fringe of militants who have decided that they must use armed tactics to get their message out to the U.S. and others. They have been identified as the major players in the recent string of anti-U.S. bombings across the Middle East that culminated in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa and now, possibly, the attacks directly on American soil. They are very different from the wider current of Islamic activism in Arab world and more globally which in addition to its Islamic orientation has an agenda about social justice and social change against the dictatorships and terrible economic conditions and extensive corruption in many of the pro-Western countries in the region. They are anti-Iranian. They are now anti-Saudi. And their actions have even been condemned by very militant Muslim organizations ranging from the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt to the FIS in Algeria to HAMAS in Palestine. They are disconnected from these movements in many ways although some sentiments are certainly shared. There is no question that the U.S. support for Israel and its support for the devastating sanctions on Iraq, as well as U.S. support for brutal dictatorships across the region, have created a fertile ground for sympathy with such militancy.

 

Osama bin Laden is not the mastermind of these attacks as is often claimed in the media; he just facilitates these groups andsentiments with his money and finances, as do others. He is simply a very visible symbol of this network and the U.S. obsession with him most likely works to increase his standing as an icon of resistance to the U.S. The rise of this militant network and their adoption of violence against the United States represents a clear failure of U.S. strategy in the region, especially the U.S./Saudi/Pakistani model of alliance between conservative Sunni Islamic activism and the West. The problem is that US has no alternative political strategy because they see all Islamic activists as their enemy and refuse to address the root causes of anti-American sentiments in the region, especially support for dictatorships and rampant poverty among the majority of the region's masses of people. Just as important, the U.S appears to have no long-term strategy to address the sources of grievances that the radical groups share with vast majority of Muslim activists who abhor using violent methods that would include a more balanced approach to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, ending the sanctions on Iraq or moving U.S. military bases out of Saudi Arabia.

 

How to truly defeat terrorism

 

Many of us accept the premise that terrorism is a phenomenon that can be defeated only by better ideas, by persuasion and, most importantly, by amelioration of the conditions that inspire it. Terrorism's best asset, in the final analysis, is the fire in the bellies of its young men. That fire cannot be extinguished by Tomahawk missiles or military operations. If intelligent Americans can accept this premise as a reasonable basis for dealing with this threat, why is it so difficult for our leaders to speak and act accordingly? The present U.S. strategy for ending the threat of terrorism through the use of military force will very likely exacerbate these problems. When innocent U.S. citizens are killed and harmed by blasts at US embassies or bases, the U.S. government expects expressions of outrage and grief over brutal terrorism. But when U.S. Cruise missiles kill and maim innocent Sudanese, Afghanis, and Pakistanis, the U.S. calls it collateral damage. Many of the world's 1.2 billion Muslim peopleare understandably aggrieved by double standards. The U.S. claims that it must impose economic sanctions on certain countries that violate human rights and/or harbor weapons of mass destruction. Yet the U.S. largely ignores Muslim victims of human rights violations in Palestine, Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and Chechnya. What's more, while the U.S. economy is propped up by weapon sales to countries around the globe and particularly in the Middle East, the U.S. insists on economicsanctions to prevent weapon development in Libya, Sudan, Iran and Iraq. In Iraq, the crippling economic sanctions cost the lives of 5,000 children, under age five, every month. Over one million Iraqis have died as a direct result of over a decade of sanctions. Finally, the U.S. pro-Israel policy unfairly puts higher demands on Palestinians to renounce violence than on Israelis to halt new settlements and adhere to U.N. resolutions calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian lands.

 

There is no justification for the horrendous attacks on innocent American civilians in New York or Washington. Yet, at this difficult time, Americans should critically examine policies with which Arabs, Muslims and many others have legitimate grievances. Why do we refuse to see the flaws in these policies? Is it easier to demonize those in the Arab world who oppose them as a way of diverting attention from our own mistakes?

 

President Bush and others have labeled all Islamic militants as members or "affiliates" of the "Osama bin Laden Network of Terrorism." This is, of course, the common mistake of demonizing one individual as the root of all evil. In fact, elevating bin Laden to that status only gives him a mantle of heroism now and, more ominously, will guarantee him martyrdom if he should die. Even if he is killed or captured, the fertile soil that creates such figures will still be there. Moreover, any attacks may simply serve to inflame passions and create hosts of new volunteers to their ranks. Military solutions to the problems in the Middle East and the terrorism that has resulted from these problems is not a policy but a recipe for more violence and bombings.

 

Steve Niva teaches International politics and Middle East Studies at the Evergreen State College.HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUING MENTAL TERRORISM FROM ATTACK ON AMERICAAs an international human rights organization, we offer our heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this inhumane and heinous terrorist attack on innocent American citizens. While these acts of unspeakable evil defy our comprehension, we must retain our certainty that these are the cowardly actions of weak and insane minds, minds that are psychologically indoctrinated to feel nothing about the mass murder of innocent lives, stated Jan Eastgate, President of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR).Gordon Thomas, author of Journey into Madness, warned us about the Beirut, Lebanon terrorist psychiatrist, Dr. Aziz al-Abub, who provided pep pills for suicide-bombers and implanted them with the idea of the glory of sacrifice and dying. His greater target was the minds of the people, creating tension in the streets in the aftermath of terrorism. This is tension that we must unite together to prevent in the people of America.CCHR, of course, supports a full investigation into this horrific tragedy but warns that such an investigation must not stop at isolating the individuals directly responsible, but must also determine what mental techniques and manipulation were used to turn those individuals into mindless murderers.CCHR's evidence of psychiatric influence behind Bosnia and Kosovo's civil terrorism led to Members of the Council of Europe in 1999 signing a resolution that recognized psychiatrists Radovan Karadzic and Jovan Raskovic as the architects of ethnic cleansing in those countries. Prime Minister Slobovan Milosovic, a former Karadzic patient, perpetrated and financed Kosovo?s ethnic cleansing.With reports accusing Osama bin Laden of being the source of the WTC and Pentagon attacks, CCHR?s attention has turned to his chief aide, Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former psychiatrist convicted of terrorism in Egypt and sentenced to death in absentia.According to Islamic lawyer, Muntasir Zayat, Zawahiri is to bin Laden what the brain is to the body. Zawahiri was able to reshape bin Laden's thinking and mentality and turn him from merely a supporter of the Afghan Jihad to a believer in and export of the Jihad's ideology, the lawyer said.CCHR has called on its 131 chapters worldwide to accelerate their investigations and exposure of those who use destructive mental practices for political ends.

[Guest guest]

What amount of herbs would you suggest stocking? Any other herbs

you would suggest to have on hand in emergency?

Thanks, Cathy

 

herbal remedies, " Ian Shillington N.D. "

<Dr.IanShillington@G...> wrote:

> Cayenne is an herb I would stock up on and so is Garlic. For the

old

> medicine kit, and as a general precaution, I have a gallon of Total

> Tonic on hand at all times. Total Tonic is of course one of the

best

> anti-plague formulae going.

>

> Love,

>

> Doc

>

> Ian " Doc " Shillington N.D.

> 505-772-5889

> Dr.IanShillington@G...

> -

> SPARERIBAZ

> herbal remedies

> Monday, September 17, 2001 4:58 AM

> Re: [herbal remedies] Gaining a better understanding of

> recent events

>

>

> By now most of America knows what happened here in Mesa,

Arizona. A

> few blocks from where I live at least one, maybe two men in a black

> truck drove to the corner Chevron gas station and shot the owner

dead.

> They ironically went approx ten miles into town a block from where

my

> mother lives and shot up another gas station missing the people

inside.

> They went 2 more blocks at 2 more locations shooting even more.

Luckily

> only the one man was killed. He was from India, the slain man, and

was

> mistaken for being of Arab descent.

>

> This saddens my heart that we have people here in America,

especially

> in my neighborhood, that would kill a man for no reason other than

his

> skin color. The man so happened to have been a US citizen for many,

> many years and he and his family all donated blood the day before he

> died to help ease the suffering of fellow Americans.

>

> I ask you all for Prayer for the people affected here, mainly his

> family. They have not caught the shooter yet and I Pray they do.

>

> This is just the icing on the cake. Americans should not have to

live

> in fear in their own country, especially fear from what select

Americans

> will do. The well being of our children and ourselves is at stake

right

> now... Healing needs to come to all our hearts.

>

> When giving a big part of yourself to natural healing and really

> understanding the mind, body, and spirit approach to a persons well

> being it really can be seen how we all can be affected on so many

> levels.

>

> Anyway I am rambling on. This is a Wonderful list with some

fantastic

> people and I hope we can somehow help the people of America and the

> world if tragedy falls in our own back yard. During times of war I

never

> thought...Hmmm maybe I should stock up on extra cayenne just in

case of

> a tragedy like this happens around me... but now I have been

thinking

> more about getting emergency herbs together... Who Knows...

>

> God be with us all,

> Jamie

> -

> Ian Shillington N.D.

> herbal remedies

> Sunday, September 16, 2001 9:08 PM

> [herbal remedies] Gaining a better understanding of

recent

> events

>

>

> Dear All,

>

> A couple of articles have crossed my desk which I think provide

a

> more truthful perspective on events, and so I am forwarding them to

you.

> They might not have all the answers, but the perspectives are

> interesting, well researched and not filled with generalities as

> specific dates and instances have been given.

>

> I don't know that I agree with all of the premises given in the

> first article, but it gives a good case for both sides without

racism or

> bigotry, and it allows us to take responsibility for our own short

> comings without having to " swallow the blame " for the whole kit and

> kaboodle.

>

> The second article looks to the men behind the bin Ladens, and

the

> Milosovics, and into the realm of mind control.

>

> IMOHO, both articles are excellent and I think there are some

> answers here.

>

> Much love,

>

> Doc

>

>

> Ian " Doc " Shillington N.D.

> 505-772-5889

> Dr.IanShillington@G...

>

>

>

> Understanding Middle Eastern Sources of Violence Against the

United

> States

>

> by Steve Niva http://academic.evergreen.edu/users3/nivas/

> The Evergreen State College http://www.evergreen.edu/

>

> In the wake of the immense and sickening tragedy of the recent

> attacks it is difficult to get beyond the horror and shock of what

has

> just happened and engage in some reflection on the sources of

violence

> against the United States. This is understandable given the almost

> unbelievable nature of this attack. Yet it is more necessary than

ever

> if one is to cope with the tragedy and try to find ways to make

sure it

> will never happen again.

>

> What we will see in the next few days and weeks will be

> investigations, arrests of individuals and intense speculation about

> which groups or states did this and how the United States should

> respond. Unfortunately, if the pattern of past responses to such

> attacks is repeated, we will probably not learn a great deal about

the

> reasons behind why this attack happened, or the broader sources of

> violence against the United States over the past decade.

>

> We are hearing substantial reports of a Middle Eastern

connection to

> this attack and media coverage has frequently mentioned the name of

> Osama bin Laden as the number one terrorist suspect and mastermind

of

> this operation. If this evidence is verified, it is extremely

important

> to gain clarity about the specific actors and their motivations

before

> one can even think about how to respond. For Americans who like

their

> hero's and villains portrayed in simple dichotomies of good and

evil,

> the result of this kind of clarity could be disturbing because the

> United States has created many enemies through its policies in the

> Middle East over the past century and bears a significant amount of

> responsibility for creating a fertile soil for anti-American hatred.

>

>

> Who is behind the attacks?

>

> The recent attacks are most likely related to an escalating

series

> of attacks and bombings on U.S. targets over the past 10 years,

> including the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and

Tanzania

> in which hundreds were killed. This attack followed a 1996 car-bomb

> attack on a U.S. barracks in Dharahan, Saudi Arabia that killed 19

> Americans and a 1995 car-bomb attack on an American National Guard

> Training center in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and, of course, the 1993

World

> Trade Center truck-bombing.

>

> All of these attacks have been attributed to Islamic radicals

based

> in the Middle East and Central Asia under the rubric of a very hazy

> notion of " Islamic fundamentalism. " Indeed a number of people from

these

> regions with links to certain militant Islamic groups have been

arrested

> and charged in some of these actions. Breathless reports of a

shadowy

> Islamic conspiracy against the U.S. have generated a steady stream

of

> cliché's about this new enemy and its hatred of the U.S., but

> unfortunately precious little light has been shed on understanding

why

> this is happening and what exactly these people believe. Their

enmity

> towards the U.S. is explained as little more than the product of a

> fanatical and inherently anti-Western and anti-American world view.

>

> Stephen Emerson, a so-called terrorism expert who frequently

appears

> in the media, claims that " the hatred of the US by militant Islamic

> fundamentalists is not tied to any particular act or event. Rather,

> fundamentalists equate the mere existence of the West-its economic,

> political and cultural systems-as an intrinsic attack on Islam. "

Any

> explanation of Middle Eastern violence that relies upon the notion

that

> Islam is an inherently violent or inherently anti-Western religion

is

> false and misleading. First, Islam is one of the world's largest

and

> most diverse religions and like Christianity or Judaism there are

> thousands of views within Islam about the religion and also about

> violence and the West. Secondly, there are major differences even

among

> explicitly Muslim militants and activists regarding these issues-

some

> insist upon non-violent struggle and others regard violence as a

> legitimate tool. There is no way one can generalize about Islam or

any

> religion for that matter.

>

> So who are the perpetrators and what drove them to commit this

> horrendous act? The most likely perpetrators of these attacks are

> related to an extremely small and fringe network of militants whose

> motivations do not derive from Islam so much as from a common set of

> experiences and beliefs that resulted from their participation in

the

> U.S. backed war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan in the

1980's.

> These militants were recruited by the CIA, the Saudi Arabian and

> Pakistani intelligence services to fight against the Soviet Union

during

> the 1980's. They came largely from the poor and unemployed classes

or

> militant opposition groups from around the Middle East, including

> Algeria, Egypt, Palestine and elsewhere in order to wage war on

behalf

> of the Muslim people of Afghanistan against the communist led

invasion.

> Among the many coordinators and financiers of this effort was a rich

> young Saudi named Osama Bin Laden, who was the millionaire son of a

> wealthy Saudi businessman with close contacts to the Saudi royal

family.

> He was considered to be a major CIA asset in the war against the

Soviet

> Union. After 1984, these groups started building major bases in

> Pakistan and Afghanistan and fought against the Soviet Union. This

> network of conservative Sunni Muslim militants, who became known

as " the

> Afghans " , also served another purpose for the U.S. and its allies

in the

> region. Not only were they anti-Communist they were also opposed

to the

> 1979 Islamic revolution in Iran that had toppled a major ally of the

> U.S., the Shah of Iran, who had helped control the oil fields in the

> region under U.S. hegemony. They opposed the revolution because

Iranian

> Islam is based on the Shiite branch of Islam that differs in

important

> ways from the major Sunni branch of Islam. The clear aim of U.S.

> foreign policy was to kill two birds with one stone: turn back the

> Soviet Union and create a counter-weight to radical Iranian inspired

> threats to U.S. interests, particularly U.S. backed regimes who

> controlled the massive oil resources.

>

>

> The failure of U.S. policy in the Middle East

>

> But this policy has now turned into a nightmare for the U.S.

and has

> likely led to the recent attacks against the U.S. in New York and

> Washington D.C. After the Soviets were defeated in Afghanistan in

1989

> this network became expendable to the U.S. who no longer needed

their

> services. In fact, the U.S. actively turned against these groups

after

> the Gulf War when a number of these militants returned home and

opposed

> the U.S. war against Iraq and especially the U.S. ground troops

placed

> in Saudi Arabia on the land of the Islamic holy sites of Mecca and

> Madina. In the past decade there has been a vicious war of

intelligence

> services in the region between America and its allies and militant

> Muslim groups. Many Egyptian Islamists believe the U.S. trained

> Egyptian police torture techniques like they did the Shah and his

brutal

> Savak security police. The CIA has sent snatch squads to abduct

wanted

> militants form Muslim countries and return them to their countries

to

> face almost certain death or imprisonment. The primary belief of

this

> loose and militant network of veterans of the Afghanistan war is

that

> the West, led by the United States, is now waging war against

Muslims

> around the world and that they have to defend themselves by any

means

> necessary, including violence and terrorism. They point to a

number of

> cases where Muslims have born the brunt of violence as evidence of

this

> war: the genocide against Bosnian Muslims, the Russian war against

> Chechnya, the Indian occupation of Kashmir, the Israeli occupation

of

> Palestinian lands, the UN sanctions against Iraq or the US support

of

> brutal dictatorships in Algeria, Egypt or Saudi Arabia, for example.

> They claim that the US either supported the violence or failed to

> prevent it in all of these cases. It should be clear that this

network

> is only a very radical fringe of militants who have decided that

they

> must use armed tactics to get their message out to the U.S. and

others.

> They have been identified as the major players in the recent string

of

> anti-U.S. bombings across the Middle East that culminated in the

U.S.

> embassy bombings in Africa and now, possibly, the attacks directly

on

> American soil. They are very different from the wider current of

> Islamic activism in Arab world and more globally which in addition

to

> its Islamic orientation has an agenda about social justice and

social

> change against the dictatorships and terrible economic conditions

and

> extensive corruption in many of the pro-Western countries in the

region.

> They are anti-Iranian. They are now anti-Saudi. And their actions

have

> even been condemned by very militant Muslim organizations ranging

from

> the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt to the FIS in Algeria to HAMAS in

> Palestine. They are disconnected from these movements in many ways

> although some sentiments are certainly shared. There is no question

> that the U.S. support for Israel and its support for the devastating

> sanctions on Iraq, as well as U.S. support for brutal dictatorships

> across the region, have created a fertile ground for sympathy with

such

> militancy.

>

>

> Osama bin Laden is not the mastermind of these attacks as is

often

> claimed in the media; he just facilitates these groups and

> sentiments with his money and finances, as do others. He is

simply a

> very visible symbol of this network and the U.S. obsession with him

most

> likely works to increase his standing as an icon of resistance to

the

> U.S. The rise of this militant network and their adoption of

violence

> against the United States represents a clear failure of U.S.

strategy in

> the region, especially the U.S./Saudi/Pakistani model of alliance

> between conservative Sunni Islamic activism and the West. The

problem

> is that US has no alternative political strategy because they see

all

> Islamic activists as their enemy and refuse to address the root

causes

> of anti-American sentiments in the region, especially support for

> dictatorships and rampant poverty among the majority of the region's

> masses of people. Just as important, the U.S appears to have no

> long-term strategy to address the sources of grievances that the

radical

> groups share with vast majority of Muslim activists who abhor using

> violent methods that would include a more balanced approach to the

> Israeli/Palestinian conflict, ending the sanctions on Iraq or moving

> U.S. military bases out of Saudi Arabia.

>

>

> How to truly defeat terrorism

>

> Many of us accept the premise that terrorism is a phenomenon

that

> can be defeated only by better ideas, by persuasion and, most

> importantly, by amelioration of the conditions that inspire it.

> Terrorism's best asset, in the final analysis, is the fire in the

> bellies of its young men. That fire cannot be extinguished by

Tomahawk

> missiles or military operations. If intelligent Americans can

accept

> this premise as a reasonable basis for dealing with this threat,

why is

> it so difficult for our leaders to speak and act accordingly? The

> present U.S. strategy for ending the threat of terrorism through

the use

> of military force will very likely exacerbate these problems. When

> innocent U.S. citizens are killed and harmed by blasts at US

embassies

> or bases, the U.S. government expects expressions of outrage and

grief

> over brutal terrorism. But when U.S. Cruise missiles kill and maim

> innocent Sudanese, Afghanis, and Pakistanis, the U.S. calls it

> collateral damage. Many of the world's 1.2 billion Muslim people

> are understandably aggrieved by double standards. The U.S.

claims

> that it must impose economic sanctions on certain countries that

violate

> human rights and/or harbor weapons of mass destruction. Yet the

U.S.

> largely ignores Muslim victims of human rights violations in

Palestine,

> Bosnia, Kosovo, Kashmir and Chechnya. What's more, while the U.S.

> economy is propped up by weapon sales to countries around the globe

and

> particularly in the Middle East, the U.S. insists on economic

> sanctions to prevent weapon development in Libya, Sudan, Iran

and

> Iraq. In Iraq, the crippling economic sanctions cost the lives of

5,000

> children, under age five, every month. Over one million Iraqis have

> died as a direct result of over a decade of sanctions. Finally, the

U.S.

> pro-Israel policy unfairly puts higher demands on Palestinians to

> renounce violence than on Israelis to halt new settlements and

adhere to

> U.N. resolutions calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Palestinian

> lands.

>

> There is no justification for the horrendous attacks on innocent

> American civilians in New York or Washington. Yet, at this difficult

> time, Americans should critically examine policies with which Arabs,

> Muslims and many others have legitimate grievances. Why do we

refuse to

> see the flaws in these policies? Is it easier to demonize those in

the

> Arab world who oppose them as a way of diverting attention from our

own

> mistakes?

>

> President Bush and others have labeled all Islamic militants as

> members or " affiliates " of the " Osama bin Laden Network of

Terrorism. "

> This is, of course, the common mistake of demonizing one individual

as

> the root of all evil. In fact, elevating bin Laden to that status

only

> gives him a mantle of heroism now and, more ominously, will

guarantee

> him martyrdom if he should die. Even if he is killed or captured,

the

> fertile soil that creates such figures will still be there.

Moreover,

> any attacks may simply serve to inflame passions and create hosts

of new

> volunteers to their ranks. Military solutions to the problems in

the

> Middle East and the terrorism that has resulted from these problems

is

> not a policy but a recipe for more violence and bombings.

>

> Steve Niva teaches International politics and Middle East

Studies at

> the Evergreen State College.

>

>

> HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION HIGHLIGHTS CONTINUING MENTAL TERRORISM

> FROM ATTACK ON AMERICA

>

> As an international human rights organization, we offer our

> heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims of this

inhumane

> and heinous terrorist attack on innocent American citizens. While

these

> acts of unspeakable evil defy our comprehension, we must retain our

> certainty that these are the cowardly actions of weak and insane

minds,

> minds that are psychologically indoctrinated to feel nothing about

the

> mass murder of innocent lives, stated Jan Eastgate, President of the

> Citizens Commission on Human Rights International (CCHR).

>

> Gordon Thomas, author of Journey into Madness, warned us about

the

> Beirut, Lebanon terrorist psychiatrist, Dr. Aziz al-Abub, who

provided

> pep pills for suicide-bombers and implanted them with the idea of

the

> glory of sacrifice and dying. His greater target was the minds of

the

> people, creating tension in the streets in the aftermath of

terrorism.

> This is tension that we must unite together to prevent in the

people of

> America.

>

> CCHR, of course, supports a full investigation into this

horrific

> tragedy but warns that such an investigation must not stop at

isolating

> the individuals directly responsible, but must also determine what

> mental techniques and manipulation were used to turn those

individuals

> into mindless murderers.

>

> CCHR's evidence of psychiatric influence behind Bosnia and

Kosovo's

> civil terrorism led to Members of the Council of Europe in 1999

signing

> a resolution that recognized psychiatrists Radovan Karadzic and

Jovan

> Raskovic as the architects of ethnic cleansing in those countries.

Prime

> Minister Slobovan Milosovic, a former Karadzic patient, perpetrated

and

> financed Kosovo?s ethnic cleansing.

>

> With reports accusing Osama bin Laden of being the source of

the WTC

> and Pentagon attacks, CCHR?s attention has turned to his chief aide,

> Ayman al-Zawahiri, a former psychiatrist convicted of terrorism in

Egypt

> and sentenced to death in absentia.

>

> According to Islamic lawyer, Muntasir Zayat, Zawahiri is to bin

> Laden what the brain is to the body. Zawahiri was able to reshape

bin

> Laden's thinking and mentality and turn him from merely a supporter

of

> the Afghan Jihad to a believer in and export of the Jihad's

ideology,

> the lawyer said.

>

> CCHR has called on its 131 chapters worldwide to accelerate

their

> investigations and exposure of those who use destructive mental

> practices for political ends.